ABSTRACT
The role of the procurement function within the public sector hospitals has became prominent over the years, with an increasing need for public sector organizations to deliver increasingly challenging strategic objectives within the parameters of Standing Financial code and procurement legislation. Effective procurement is a critical component of a strong supply chain. Bottlenecks in procurement process can result in supply chain failures such as stock outs and shortages of essential commodities. A study was carried out at one of the purchase sections at SKIMS, a public sector tertiary care hospital in north India to identify the bottlenecks if any in the purchase process. A cross sectional study was carried out in purchase II of materials management section of SKIMS. . All the cases which were under process at purchase II of skims as on 15-04-2013 were noted down by studying records with purchase IInd and by simple random sampling 25% of the cases were picked up for study. The details of the cases up to 15-04-13 were obtained by retrospective record study and were followed prospectively till December 2013 or till cases were finalized which ever was earlier. Out of the cases which were studied in 51.85% supplies were actually received. For most of the times only three tenders were received and extending date of tenders and retendering is common. The standardized NIT stipulations, conditions and purchase process are found tedious by these tenderers who have easy business in other institutions/organizations in the state where processes are not so standardized putting SKIMS in a relative disadvantage. When tendering was done 73% of times three tenders were received, 15.7% of times five tenders were received and six and seven tenders were received 5.2% of times each. No scientific calculations for supplies required during lead time and buffer stock were made. Most of the time has been seen to be utilized in technical evaluation. The findings of our study correspond to the findings of other studies.